Quack-grass destroyer.



G. G. NELSON.

QUACK GRASS DESTROYER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9, 1908.

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(L G. NELSON. QUAGK GRASS DESTBOYER- APYLIOATION FILED HOV.9,1908.

922,178.? Patented May 18, 190

UNITED STATES CHARLES C. NELSON, OF

LAFAYETTE, MINNESOTA.

QUACK-GRASS DESTROYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1909.

Application filed. November 9, 1908. Serial No. acre-2o.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARL-ns O. NELSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lafayette, in the county of Nicollet and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Quack-GrassDestroyers and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved machine fordigging up and destroying quack grass and forother analogous work, andto this end, it consists of the novel devices and combinations ofdevices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view, showing the improvedmachine and Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, with some parts brokenaway.

The vehicle which carries the operative parts of themaehine, comprises askeleton frame work having a pivoted front axle 2 and a fixed axle 3 onwhich axle wheels 4 and 5 respectively are 'journaled. A pole 6 isattached to the front axle 2, and a drivers seat 7 is shown as supportedfrom one of the longitudinal center beams of the frame work 1. Amultiplicity of sharp edged disks 8 are rigidly secured to a shaft 9that is loosely jou rnaled in the free lower ends of a pair ofsupporting levers 10, that are intermediately pivoted at 11 to the sidebeams of the frame 1. The rearward movements of the lower ends of thelevers 10 are limited by a pair of toggles 12 that connect the same tothe side beams of the frame 1, as shown in Fig. 2. Coiled springs 13, asshown, are attached to the upper ends of the levers 10 and to the rearportions of theside beams of the frame 1. These springs 13, in part,counter-balance the weight of the disks 8 and its shaft 9 on the lowerends of the arms 10; but are not strong enough to raise or throw thesame forward, but normally tend to hold the same approximately as shownin Fig. 2. A coiled spring 14 is attached to the central portion of theshaft 9 by means of a suitable coupling, swiveled on the said shaft. Theother end I of this spring 14 is connected to one end of a hoistingcable 15, that is passed over a guide sheave 16 and is attached to awindlass drum 17. The sheave 16 is shown as journaled on a supportingrod 13, fixed to the front portion of the frame 1, and the drum 17 isournaled in suitable bearing pedestals 19 fixed to the centrallongitudinal beams of the said frame 1. At one end, the shaft of thedrum 17 is provided with an operating crank 20, and inward thereof, itis provided with a ratchet wheel 21 that is normally engaged by a lockdog 22 pivoted to an extension of one of the pedestals 19. A rod 23connects the tail of the dog 22 to a foot lever 24, which is positionedto be engaged by the foot of the operator from the seat 7.

A supplemental frame made up of a pair of rear'aardly extended levers 25and a tie rod 26 is pivotally connected at 2' to the rear portions ofthe side bars of the frame 1. A shaft 28 is journaled in suitablebearings on frame levers 25, and to this shaft a skeleton drum orcylinder 29 having teeth 30 is rigidly secured. Long lever-likeplow-teeth 31 are intermediately pivoted on the tie rod 26, and aresuitably spaced apart by short sleeves 26. At their lower forwardlycurved ends, the teeth 31 are provided with small hoe-like blades 32,the purpose of which it ill presently appear. Coiled springs 33 connectthe upper ends of the teeth 31 to a transverse rod 34, shown as securedto the upper ends of supporting rods 35, the letter ends of which arerigidly attached to the rear ends of the levers 25. The extremeforaa-ard position of the lower ends of the teeth 31 is indicated in thedrawings.

One of the rear or traction wheels 5 is provided. with a large drivingsprocket 36, and the cylinder shaft 28, at one end, is provided v; ith asmall sprocket 37, over v-rhich, and the said sprocket 36, runs asprocket chain 38. As sho=.=;n, the slack of the sprocket chain 38 isadapted to be taken up by an idle sprocket 39 mountedin a bracket 40adjustably secured to the adjacent lever 25. A second cable 41 isattached at its forward end to the drum 17, already noted, and thiscable is passed reartvardly over a guide sheave 42, journaled to theupper end of the bearing pedestal 43 fixed at its lower end to the truckframe 1. From the sheave 12, the cable 41 is passed the rearwardlyextended face ends of the.

around the sheave 44, which as shown, is connected by a pair of links 45to the intermediate portion of the rod 34, which latter, it will beremembered, is rigidly secured to the free ends of the levers 25 by thevertical rods 35. From the sheave 44, the cable 41 is brought forwardand attached to the upper portion of the fixed bearing pedestal 43.

The operation of this machine is substantially as follows: When themachine is drawn forward, the toothed drum 29 will be rotated in thedirection of the arrow marked thereon in Fig. 2, and, when the disks 8are lowered into contact with the ground, they will be forced backwardand downward into the ground or sod over which they travel cutting theground or sod, into narrow strips extending in the direction of thetravel of the ma chine. The blades or shovel ends 32 of the spring teeth31 are, in a direction transversely of the machine, positioned midwaybetween the disks 8 so that they will lift up the ground and quack grassor other growth contained in the strips thus loosened. The quack grassunder the forward movement of the machine, will be forced rearward andupward on the curved spring teeth 31, and will be struck in rapidsuccession by the backwardly curved teeth 30 of the rotating drum orcylinder 29, and by this action, all dirt .will be pounded from theroots of the uplifted quack grass, and this quack grass will bedroppedon top of the ground where it may be subsequently raked up andburned, or allowed to lie in the sun until its roots are killed and thento disintegrate and form fertilizer for the ground.

If any of the teeth 31 should strike a stone or root, it will turnbackward, and hence, w ill not be broken. By rotating the Windlass drum17 in the direction of the bevel of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 21,as shown in Fig. 2, the cylinder or toothed drum 29 will be raised, andsimultaneously therewith, the disks 8 will be lifted out of the ground.By reverse movements of the said vdndlass drum, the said cylinder anddisks will, of course, be lowered into 0 erative positions.

The machine described while simple, is efficient for the purposes had inView, and has few parts to get out of order. The ma chine described,while especially designed for use in the destruction of quack grass, maynevertheless, be used for other purposes, such for instance, asdestroying weeds or for disintegrating sod.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a rotarytoothed cylinder, of blade-equipped uplifting teeth located in front ofsaid cylinder, and a plurality of cut ting disks located in front ofsaid blade-' equipped teeth, substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a truck, ofa supplemental frame pivotally connected thereto, a toothed cylinderjournaled on said supplemental frame, a plurality of uplifting teethlocated on said supplemental frame in front of said cylinder, a disksupport pivotally connected to the truck frame in front of saiduplifting teeth, a plurality of cutting disks mounted on the lowerportions of said disk supports, and means operative, at will, forraising and lowering said supplemental frame and said disk support,substantially as described.

3. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a truck, ofa rearwardly extended supplemental frame, pivotally connected to therear portion of the truck frame, a toothed cylinder mounted on saidsupplemental frame and driven from one of the wheels of said truck, aplurality of curved blade-equipped u lifting teeth spring mounted onsaid supp emental frame in front of said cylinder, means for raising andlowering said supplemental frame, a disk support pivotally connected tothe truck frame in front of said uplifting teeth, a plurality of cuttingdisks mounted on the lower portions of said disk supports, and means forraising and lowering the said disk support, substantially as described.V

4. .In a machine of the kind described, the combination with arearwardly extended supplemental frame pivotally connected to the rearportion of said truck frame, a toothed cylinder mounted on saidsupplemental frame and driven from one of the rear wheels of said truck,a plurality of curved blade-equipped uplifting teeth spring mounted onsaid supplemental frame in front of said cylinder, a pair of laterallyspaced levers ivotally connected to the truck frame, a lurality ofcutting disks supported by the ower ends of said levers and located infront of said uplifting teeth, toggle acting stops for limiting therearward movements of said disk supporting levers, and a Windlass shaftwith cable connections for simultaneously raising and simultaneouslylowering said supplemental frame and said disk supporting levers,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES C. NELSON.

Witnesses:

P. A. RETRUM, JosEPH H. BREY.

